_edited.jpg)
Hope you all had a lovely holiday! I don't know about you, but I always feel a bit like a lost little lamb after Christmas Day. No more decorating, urgent gift wrapping, or practicing copious amounts of Christmas carols. Whatever am I to do now??
My remedy to almost anything is to bake. (Except when I had pneumonia. Then I was forbidden from the kitchen, lest I contaminate every spatula, spoon, and sprinkle shaker we own. And I was much too exhausted to bake anyway!) So my solution to post-Christmas melancholy is a fresh batch of cookies. But wait, is Christmas really over?
Here's an interesting bit of information... the 12 Days of Christmas begin on Christmas Day! How about that? All this time - until doing some research for this post, that is - I've been under the impression that it began before Christmas. Not so, apparently. The 12 Days or "Twelvetide" begin on Christmas Day and run through January 5th, which is Epiphany Eve, or the "Twelfth Night." (Like the Shakespeare play.) Twelvetide was a big deal in jolly olde England. It involved both religious and pagan traditions, like saints' feast days and celebration of winter solstice. And of course, the "Twelve Days of Christmas" carol was published in England, in 1780. Cue the partridge. :)
For the real celebration of the Twelve Days of Christmas, I'm presenting a series of 12 cookies. Some festive, some everyday, but all delicious. (I shall begin with 2, since I took yesterday off.)
Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Balls
I realize it's stretching it to include these in a cookie series, but they're a family favorite that we always make a Christmas. I like to call these mock buckeyes, since they're not as sugar- and butter-laden as the classic recipe. These call for honey and powdered milk instead, so if you want, you can think of them as "healthy." I do, anyway. :)
Ingredients
1/2 C. honey
1 1/2 C. powdered milk
1 1/2 C. creamy peanut butter
Directions
Combine ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Take out teaspoonfuls of the mixture and roll into a ball. Chill until firm, then coat partially with melted chocolate. Read my tips on melting chocolate in the microwave here.
Mint Chocolate Cookies
This is a King Arthur Flour recipe that I modified a bit. Instead of 1 cup of mint chips, I used 1/2 cup of chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of Holiday Mint M&Ms, for some Christmas-y colors. As always, be on the lookout for after-Christmas bargains on candy! You might be able to find these M&Ms for mere pennies now. Click here to get King Arthur Flour's cookie recipe.
'Til next time,
Eva
Source:
McCaffery, Jennifer. "Where Do The 12 Days Of Christmas Come From?". Reader's Digest, 2018, https://www.rd.com/culture/where-do-12-days-of-christmas-come-from/. Accessed 26 Dec 2018.
Comments